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Ag Plant's Role Grows

Posted on: Tuesday, 21 March 2006, 00:00 CST

By Jonathan Wegner, Omaha World-Herald, Neb.

Mar. 20--In her five years as operations supervisor at the Claas Omaha LLC plant, JoAnn Haworth had never learned how to assemble the company's signature product, the world's largest combine.

It wasn't her job. Until January, that is.

Until then, Claas' 5-year-old plant in Sarpy County had served as the giant combines' final North Amerivides challenges for Claas, it also creates opportunities for the company, particularly as farms consolidate and become increasingly technology driven.

"All that hope (farmers have) is in that crop," he said. "Our machine comes to harvest that one-year investment."

The appeal of Claas machines in the North American market lies in their technology, Frye said. That includes the giant 40-foot headers, which were designed at the Sarpy County facility for use on large American farms.

Kelly Monroe, a spokeswoman for Claas, said the focus on meeting regional needs follows a model established by Claas founder August Claas, who would bicycle out to German fields, carrying a carton of cigarettes and a bottle of Schnapps, to do "market research."

To that end, Claas has converted its "demo barn" into a ventilated classroom where dealers and customers from around the world can come to learn about the machines.

Green said having the largest machines on the market positions Claas well for the dominant trends in North American and world agriculture: consolidation and growth.

"Look at the numbers of humans we have to feed on the planet," he said. "If people are going to eat, there's a place for us in the supply chain."

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Copyright (c) 2006, Omaha World-Herald, Neb.

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Source: Omaha World-Herald

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